# Plain Language Summary of the FAIR Act

The FAIR Act is about making sure medical residency programs treat students from different types of medical schools fairly. Right now, there are two main types of medical schools in the United States: osteopathic schools (which train doctors in a specific approach to medicine) and allopathic schools (the traditional medical schools most people are familiar with). This bill requires hospitals that run residency training programs and receive Medicare funding to be transparent about how they're recruiting and accepting students from both types of schools.

Starting in 2023, hospitals would need to report specific numbers to the government: how many applicants they received from osteopathic versus allopathic schools, and how many students from each type they actually accepted into their programs. They'd also have to confirm that they accept applicants from both types of schools and that they treat the licensing exams from both equally—meaning if they require an exam score, they can't favor one exam over the other. This information would then be published on a public website so anyone can see how each hospital is doing with recruiting and accepting students from both medical school types.

The practical effect is that hospitals would face public scrutiny if they're heavily favoring one type of medical school over another. This could help osteopathic medical school graduates, who have historically faced discrimination in the residency application process, get fairer consideration for these competitive training positions. For patients, the goal is to ensure that the best qualified doctors get trained regardless of which type of medical school they attended, potentially improving the overall quality and diversity of the physician workforce.

FAIR Act

Fair Access In Residency Act or the FAIR Act This bill requires hospitals to certify that they accept residency applications from both osteopathic and allopathic medical schools and to disclose the number of applicants and acceptances from each type of program in order to receive graduate medical education payments under Medicare.